Cheatham among Tennessee’s lowest unemployment rates

November data show Cheatham rang in as one of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates in Tennessee, according to data issued in late December.(Photo: (Photo: lunavandoorne, Getty Images/iStockphoto))

November data show Cheatham rang in as one of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates in Tennessee, according to data issued in late December.

Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips announced in a news release Dec. 28 that November unemployment rates showed 87 of the state’s 95 counties posted below 5 percent, which had been dubbed “historically” low.

Davidson and Williamson Counties tied for having the lowest unemployment rates at 2.5 percent. Cheatham and Rutherford Counties followed, tied at 2.6 percent.

“It is a strong indicator of the local economy continues to rebound,” Cheatham County Mayor Kerry McCarver said in an email to the Times. “The rate speaks volumes that we have a workforce that wants to work.”

He explained though, that statistics from the county’s Economic and Community Development show that as much as 75 to 82 percent of Cheatham County’s workforce leaves the county for employment, many headed toward Nashville.

That percentage is “one of the highest in the state,” McCarver said, and noted that although those numbers may have been tracked a couple of years ago, “I’m sure they haven’t improved at all.”

“As we recruit new business and industries, we can promote the majority of our workforce leaves the county everyday for employment,” he said in the email. “There is no doubt the majority would prefer to work and use their experience and skills in the county and eliminate the daily drive.”

Another benefit to keeping Cheatham residents in the county for employment, he continued, is keeping the dollars spent at other local businesses: People might stop for gas, buy lunch or pick up some groceries, for example, in the county in which they work rather than where they live.

“The money they make is more likely to be spent here” if Cheatham residents work within the county, McCarver said.

Cheatham’s unemployment rate for November is up from the rate of 2.3 percent in October, but lower than the 4.0 percent rate in November 2016, according to labor force estimates produced by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

“We’ve invested in our workforce through educational programs like Tennessee Reconnect and Tennessee Promise to help citizens prepare for the job demands of today’s employers,” Haslam said in a Dec. 21 news release regarding the November unemployment data. “But we’ve also focused on creating an environment in Tennessee where businesses can thrive and want to invest in our communities and citizens. Jobs are created when companies put capital at risk, and our unemployment rate figures reflect that our policies are attracting companies to Tennessee.”

Kelly Fisher, reporter for the Ashland City Times, can be reached at KPFisher@gannett.com, 615-801-3866 or on Twitter at @KellyPFisher.